


Make It Real

by lycanvirgin (phoenixzeal)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 05:09:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16988628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixzeal/pseuds/lycanvirgin
Summary: Ryan is a game tester for a game company that uses haptic suits to make virtual reality more immersive than ever. He is about to enter the closed beta for a new VR game where he will meet another player that might change his real life forever.





	Make It Real

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a minute since I wrote any kind of fanfic and it's the first time that I'll post any rpf to AO3 so please be gentle?

A new VR game with compatibility to the haptic suit had just gone into closed beta and Ryan Haywood, an experienced virtual reality game tester, was eager to get started. The game developers were certain that this was the game that would convince the general public that buying a haptic suit was worth it for the fully immersive and realistic experience. 

It was essentially an online game where you had freedom to do almost anything you wanted; drive cars, fly planes and helicopters, get into firefights or even pick up prostitutes and bring them back to your in game place for some fun if you were into that kind of thing. Back in the day there had been something very similar for classic consoles but in virtual reality paired with a haptic suit would make the experience feel like… well, reality.

Ryan slid into the haptic suit, an almost uncomfortably tight experience but once he was in the game he wouldn’t be focused on the sensation of discomfort, instead he’d be feeling the sensation of his in game clothes and other things he touched. It was a bit nerve wracking as this was a game where he might very well get shot but the game developers had assured everyone that the discomfort would be mild and warnings about your health status in game would be mostly based on visuals and audio. 

No one actually wanted to actually experience the feeling of being shot for real. Well, Ryan thought that there were probably some curious bastards out there who would want to feel that without real risk to their health. He wouldn’t be surprised if a mod was made for that once the game came out. 

He slid into his game booth and put on the rest of his equipment, finding the game’s closed beta icon in the menu. A couple of minutes of setup and character selection later he found himself standing on a street surrounded by skyscrapers. The sounds and smells of a big city assaulted his senses and he winced, adjusting his settings slightly to get less of the olfactory experience. There was a limit to how realistic he wanted his games to be after all. He made a mental note to tell the game developers that the range of settings for the players was a nice touch. 

An icon on one of the doors to the building closest to him led to his assigned apartment in the game. He decided to enter, thinking that there may be some more starting equipment inside as this was a beta where they’d probably give them some more stuff to play with rather than making them grind to get it before the beta ended. Stepping through the door led immediately into a penthouse apartment which was a bit of a disorienting change but he couldn’t really fault them for setting it up that way. 

Ryan walked around, idly picking things up and putting them back again. It was a really nice penthouse of the variety that he’d never be able to afford in real life. The kitchen and living area were large and open space and two doors led into a spacious bedroom and a luxurious bathroom respectively. He was slightly tempted to take a bath in the big bathtub with jets but decided against it, wanting to get out on the streets and maybe even find another beta tester to try out stuff with. It was always more fun to play together with someone. 

There was a weapons cabinet in the bedroom, because that was a logical place to keep those, and Ryan grabbed a handgun and a semiautomatic that he found inside of it. Then he checked out the large walk-in closet to see if there was anything cooler to wear than the options in the startup screen. He found a pretty kickass leather jacket in black and blue and a skull mask which he decided to wear. There had been an option to create his character’s face but he’d wanted to get into the game proper so he’d just used his own features. At least with a mask no one would be able to see his actual face.

Once Ryan was satisfied with what he’d found in the apartment he headed back out on the street. It seemed to be some small alley type of deal where nothing really occurred so he headed towards the sound of traffic. Perhaps he’d steal a car from an NPC and drive around for a bit until he found someone else.

Instead he had to jump quickly out of the way as a car swerved wildly onto the sidewalk, crashing into a light pole only a couple of feet away from him. His overlay told him that this was another actual player. The man opened the car door and stumbled outside in a tangle of limbs. He was of average height, lean with a shock of dirty blond hair and a kind of lopsided nose that looked a bit too big to be real.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry, dude!” he said in an obviously English accent, looking at Ryan with a frantic expression. “I just stole this car from an NPC, right, and I’m not used to the driving yet. I mean I know you can kill other players, in the game I mean, and I was well afraid that I’d hit you and cause you to go back to your spawn. I’ve been trying to find another player for ages so that would’ve been a real cock-up.”

Ryan was a bit taken aback at almost being hit by a car and then being hit with a stream of words in an accent he wasn’t very used to. “Uh… that’s okay, my spawn point is right there,” he said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. “But I appreciate not being hit by a car.”

The other man grinned widely and stuck out a hand for Ryan to shake. “My name’s Gavin.”

“Ryan,” Ryan said and shook Gavin’s hand. “Are the driving settings wonky or something?”

“Uh no, I don’t think so, I’m just shit at it. I can’t drive for real so it was a bit of a challenge to figure out how to go really fast in traffic without crashing into stuff.” Gavin shrugged and looked at the car that now had a big dent at the front and, once Ryan really looked at it, dents all over. “So, Ryan, fancy hanging out for a bit? You can be my driver.”

Ryan snorted. “Sure, that would probably make everyone else in the game indebted to me, taking such a menace away from the roads.”

Gavin made a funny little indignant squawking sound in protest but he followed as Ryan went further down the sidewalk to find a nice car to highjack. Ryan grinned behind the mask as he saw an NPC round a corner onto the street driving a sleek, black sports car that looked like it could go very fast. He pulled out his handgun from his belt and fearlessly stepped out on the street right in front of the car, pointing the gun at the driver. The driver slammed the breaks and didn’t put up much of a fight as Ryan opened the driver side door and pulled her out before getting in. He looked at Gavin who was standing on the sidewalk with an amusing slack jawed expression. 

“Get in,” Ryan said and Gavin quickly nodded and scrambled to get into the passenger seat. 

“Are you a carjacker in real life?” Gavin asked as Ryan sped away down the street. “You’re scarily good at that.”

“You think a carjacker would also work as a game tester?” 

“They might, I don’t know anything about the carjacking industry.”

Ryan had to chuckle at that and turned his head to be able to look at Gavin while wearing the mask. Gavin instantly squeaked and told him to keep his eyes on the road if he insisted on driving like a bloody lunatic. 

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Ryan asked.

“We could crash, die and respawn and not be able to find each other again,” Gavin said. “I think that would be really sad, Ryan. You may be a carjacker and a lunatic in real life but it’s fun to be those things in a game.”

“We could add each other to our friends list. That way we’ll hopefully be able to find each other again unless there’s a bug in the system or it hasn’t been implemented yet.”

“Ryan, that’s not very reassuring.”

“Well, I’m not saying we shouldn’t try. Come on, let’s do it now.” Ryan pulled over to the side of the road and faced Gavin, bringing up the extended interface to add him to the friends list. “Done.”

“Same here,” Gavin said with a smile that really made the slightly too large nose be the least distracting thing about his face. 

That was the story of how Ryan and Gavin’s in game friendship began and they spent the rest of the day in the game stealing cars, messing with cops and getting into fights with NPCs. Gavin had a squeaky laugh that would make Ryan laugh as well and it was probably the most fun he’d had in a game in a long time. 

\---

They kept playing together every day after that. Ryan wondered why Gavin, being English and all, was awake and ready to play the same hours as he was. With the time difference that had to mean that Gavin was playing until the wee hours of the morning. They never really talked about their real lives, however, and Ryan didn’t want to pry. Gavin was an adult anyway and if he wanted to stay up pretty much the entire night every night then Ryan wouldn’t question it. 

It was after the first week of the beta that Gavin suggested that they should just go to one of their apartments and just chill and talk for a while. They’d tried most other things you could do in the game (except for pick up prostitutes but they weren’t going to do that, definitely not together) and Gavin wanted to check out the TV channels and what would happen if you got drunk in the game. Ryan agreed and they ended up going to his apartment. 

“Aw man, this is a much nicer place than mine,” Gavin said as he looked around, fidgeting with decorations and items strewn about much like Ryan had done the first day. “You must know the game developers personally or something because mine is just a dingy little flat.”

“I’m a full time game tester for them and I have been for a while now,” Ryan said with a shrug. “I didn’t think that it got me special treatment, though.”

“It clearly does. Just look at this massive screen!” Gavin grabbed the remote for the TV and flopped down on the couch. “Shit, I forgot to grab a drink.” He craned his neck back to look at Ryan with pleading eyes. “Ryan, please can you get me a drink? I don’t want to get up.”

“Are you this lazy in real life too?” Ryan teased but grabbed a couple of bottles of what looked to be some kind of beer from the fridge and handed one to Gavin as he passed by the couch to sit in an armchair. 

“Nah, well only sometimes,” Gavin said, still spread out on the couch like the poster boy for pretty couch potatoes. “I’ve got a job outside of game testing and that, this was just kind of a thing that fell into my lap. It’s like a vacation but in my own home, you know?”

Ryan made a noncommittal sound of agreement and looked at the big TV screen. It looked like it was playing commercials for the game’s own features, like various cars and weapons you could buy - or, in some cases, steal. 

“This is trash, innit?” Gavin sighed and started channel hopping. “I hope that they’ll get rights to actual movies and stuff to put in the game when it’s released. It’d be fun to be able to actually sit next to friends far away and watch a movie together and feel like you’re all in the same room.”

“There’s already a program for that, you know,” Ryan pointed out. “You don’t have to make your friends buy an entire game for that.”

“Yeah, I know but this is more fun than that because we could make a whole day out of it. Go out and blow shit up and all that and then go back to the flat and just watch a movie to relax afterwards.”

“You make an excellent point and I will retract my statement.”

Gavin grinned and stretched out one of his feet to poke his toes into Ryan’s arm. “I always make excellent points.”

“Like the other day when you said that we were definitely far enough away not to get killed by the explosion we were going to set off at the gas station?” Ryan asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Ryan, why can I tell that your eyebrow is raised even though you’re still wearing that stupid mask? Does your character not have a face or something? Is the mask its actual face?”

Ryan cleared his throat, feeling a bit embarrassed suddenly. Gavin hadn’t really brought it up before other than to say that it was “well scary” but now it felt a bit ridiculous. They were sitting in his in game apartment and not doing anything that could possibly warrant wearing a mask for game purposes. 

“Um, I may have been too lazy to make a face for my character so I just used my own but then I didn’t really want to go around messing with other players or even killing them while showing my actual face,” Ryan explained sheepishly. “That just seemed a bit too much.”

“I didn’t even think about that honestly,” Gavin said, looking worried all of a sudden. “Maybe I should’ve. I guess it’s a bit weird if I do something mean to a player and they recognize my face and all.”

Ryan blinked rapidly. “Wait, you’re telling me that that’s your real face?”

“Yeah, is that bad, you think?”

“No! No, I was just surprised,” Ryan said, clearing his throat again. “Now I feel like I have an obligation to show you my face.”

Gavin poked his toes into Ryan’s arm again with a lazy grin. “You don’t have to, you silly mong. I was just wondering about the mask, that’s all. I’ve kind of got used to you having a skull face.”

Ryan chuckled and they went back to looking at the TV screen in silence for a bit while Gavin kept flipping through the channels. Honestly Ryan felt a bit nervous now knowing that Gavin actually looked like that in real life. During the week they’d spent together in game he’d found himself becoming more and more attracted to Gavin and he’d thought that at least the physical part was just an avatar so it wasn’t as creepy. Or had that been even creepier? 

He didn’t know what to do now because the attraction had just become more real in his mind. They’d only known each other for a week in virtual reality and Gavin lived in England so it wasn’t like they’d meet in real life. Also in another week the beta would be over and Ryan didn’t know if Gavin would want to keep in touch some other way. 

Then again, this was virtual reality and they’d probably never meet in real life so what did Ryan have to be shy about? It wasn’t like he was a high school boy trying to impress someone he had a crush on. No big deal if Gavin thought that he was ugly or something. It was a ridiculous thing to be worried about at his age. With that thought in mind Ryan simply took off his mask without saying anything about it and kept watching the screen. 

It was definitely obvious when Gavin noticed what Ryan had done because he did a comical double take before he slid off of the couch and landed on the floor in a heap. Ryan felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment as he saw Gavin staring at him at the corner of his eye. 

“So I’m that ugly, huh?” Ryan asked after what felt like minutes of silence even though it had to have been only seconds. 

“No, not at all,” Gavin immediately assured him and scrambled back up on the couch with a sheepish look on his face. “It’s just… I didn’t expect you to look like a freaking model or something. What the hell, Ryan?”

Ryan’s cheeks grew even hotter but he finally turned his head to look at Gavin properly, raising an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah, you’re well fit,” Gavin mumbled awkwardly and looked away. “Now I won’t be able to talk to you unless I’m drunk. Damn.” He started taking long pulls of beer from his bottle.

“I don’t know if getting drunk in game will help you with that. Listen, I’m still the guy you’ve been talking to for a week. I can put the mask back on if that’ll help.” Ryan was feeling increasingly awkward and he wondered if taking the mask off had been a mistake after all. 

Gavin shook his head emphatically and looked at Ryan again with a look of intense concentration. Then he scooted along the couch to sit as close to Ryan’s armchair as he could and leaned in until their faces were only inches apart. 

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked, his breath catching a little bit.

“You know that therapy where you get exposed to the thing that makes you nervous?”

“Exposure therapy?” 

Gavin nodded and almost knocked their heads together. “Yeah, that. I’m giving myself exposure therapy for your face so it won’t make me nervous any longer because I like playing with you, Ryan. The game, I mean. Playing the game.”

“I understood what you meant, Gavin,” Ryan said with an amused smile and relaxed marginally. “If it helps, I think that you have a nice face too.”

“Wait, you really think so? You’re not just saying that?”

“I really think so. I didn’t think that you would think that my face is nice… Listen to us, we’re worse than awkward teenagers trying to flirt. Not that I’m saying that we’re flirting. We just have mutual appreciation for each other’s faces.”

They looked at each other in silence for a moment before they started laughing. Gavin laughed so hard that he fell backwards on the couch in breathless giggles, and Ryan’s laugh got that higher more manic pitch it sometimes got when he thought that something was particularly funny. They couldn’t stop laughing for a long while and when they finally did they could only grin at each other. 

“We’re a right pair, aren’t we Ryan?” 

“Indeed we are,” Ryan said, rubbing one of his eyes with the heel of his palm. “I would be amenable to actual flirting if you are okay with that.”

“I am very okay with that,” Gavin said, moving back into a sitting position. “I’ve had great fun with you this week. Did you know that you’re lovely? Lovely Ryan.”

Ryan blushed again and scratched his cheek. “Thank you, you’re lovely as well, Gavin.”

It was a little bit awkward after that but they got over it after another hour or so of just talking. Gavin had left the TV playing commercials on low volume in the background and it started feeling kind of normal. Like they’d met somewhere in a normal situation in real life and then progressed into an easy friendship that then turned into flirting. Ryan had never had this kind of luck with meeting people in real life, however, but he tried not to let that fill his mind and make him sad.

\---

Things continued much like the first week except now with more on purpose flirting and walking around just talking. Gavin talked a bit about what England was like and Ryan spoke of his childhood in Georgia. Neither mentioned anything about exchanging contact information to stay in touch after the beta ended. Ryan wanted to and he knew that Gavin was shy so it was possible that Gavin wanted to as well but wouldn’t be the first to ask. 

It was really up to Ryan but he was somewhat scared of rejection and what would happen if he allowed his feelings for Gavin to develop into something deeper. It wasn’t like he could just upend his entire life and move to England, right? As always he was really over thinking things. 

There was only a couple of days left of the beta and they’d been driving around in a section of the map that they hadn’t explored much previously. They were talking and joking around when Gavin suddenly went silent and swallowed heavily.

“What?” Ryan asked and slowed the car to check what Gavin was staring at.

It turned out to be an entire group of scantily clad women in front of what was definitely a strip club. Somehow they’d ended up in a red light district without Ryan realizing and the entire street was lined with strip clubs, sex shops and probably brothels as well. 

“Oh,” Ryan said, feeling his heart sink a bit. “Did you want to go inside? I guess you haven’t gotten a chance to check out this part of the game, hanging out with me all the time.”

“Did you want to go inside?” Gavin turned the question around on Ryan who slowly shook his head. “You know, I heard that there’s this thing that happens if you try to do anything too risky in public areas where other players could see you. Like it will suck you off… wait, that came out wrong. Damn it. It will automatically bring you right back to your flat.”

“Do you want to try that? I could pull over.”

Gavin looked troubled for a moment before he looked at Ryan with a determined expression. “I don’t want to try it with an NPC, I want to try it with you.”

Ryan was so surprised that he swerved into opposite traffic and almost hit the car of one of the thug NPCs that started cussing him out before making a U-turn to follow them. 

“Ah shit,” Ryan muttered and slammed on the gas, taking random turns in order to lose the thug while Gavin was squeaking with laughter and clutching his stomach in the passenger seat. 

Eventually once Ryan was sure that he’d lost the thug, he pulled over and parked the car on an actual parking space so they probably wouldn’t be bothered by any NPCs at least. He turned as much as he could in the limited space and took off his mask to look at Gavin properly. Gavin was still laughing but quickly stopped when he saw Ryan looking at him seriously. They looked at each other in silence for a moment before Gavin seemed to come to a decision and practically threw himself at Ryan, mashing their mouths together. It was awkward and uncomfortable with the gearshift in the way but Ryan cupped Gavin’s face in his hands and leaned into a better angle. 

Kissing someone with only the input of a haptic suit and gear wasn’t as good as kissing someone in real life but it was still pretty amazing technology. Ryan had a brief thought to discuss it with the game developers but then pushed that away as he never wanted to speak to any coworker about this ever. When they separated to breathe Gavin’s lips were a bit more red than normal, as were his cheeks. Points for realism there. 

“Will you try it with me?” he asked and Ryan was confused for a brief moment before he remembered what Gavin had said before they got into the car chase. 

“As long as we pick a spot where any other actual players won’t actually see us.”

“Come on then.” 

Gavin grinned mischievously and got out of the car quickly, leaving Ryan scrambling to catch up as he darted towards an alley. It was a small dead end street, the kind with big dumpsters but both of them had turned down the realism of scents in the game so that didn’t bother them. Gavin still looked a bit awkward and uncertain when they came to a stop in the shadows next to the far wall. 

Ryan decided that it was his turn to take initiative so he crowded Gavin up against the wall and leaned down to capture Gavin’s lips with his own. This time the angle was much better from the start and there was no awkward twist to their bodies to accommodate the limited space of a car. There was nothing to separate their bodies except for their clothes and Ryan could feel the warmth of Gavin’s body against his own. He heard the soft sounds Gavin made and felt his breath against his face. 

They lost track of time as they stood there just kissing and touching, all above the waist. Nothing underneath articles of clothing except for Gavin’s hand sneaking under Ryan’s leather jacket to clutch onto the sides of his black shirt, bunching up the material somewhat. Ryan felt the lower part of his stomach being exposed to cool air and it made him shiver. 

It had been a long time since he’d been physical with someone so despite the limitations of haptic technology this was plenty to get him excited. He slid one of his hands down Gavin’s side until he could grab a thigh and pulled, making space to wedge one of his legs between Gavin’s. As he pressed up his thigh against Gavin’s crotch, suddenly the air around them felt warmer and there were no ambient sounds of traffic or pedestrians anymore. Ryan pulled away slightly and looked around, seeing that they’d been teleported to the bedroom of his apartment.

“Well, now we know this works,” he said, his voice slightly hoarse. 

“Huh?” Gavin blinked confusedly and looked around them. “Oh yeah, that’s what we were doing.” He smiled sheepishly. “Did you want to stop?”

“Fuck no. Do you?”

Gavin shook his head wordlessly and Ryan grinned as he grabbed Gavin’s other thigh and hoisted him up, making Gavin squawk and wrap his legs around Ryan’s waist while he grabbed onto his shoulders. Ryan chuckled as he walked over to the bed and deposited Gavin onto it, following him down. 

“Good,” Ryan murmured before he kissed Gavin again and after that not much else was said for quite a while. 

\---

Afterwards when they lay cuddled up against each other, Ryan ran his fingers through Gavin’s hair over and over again and thought that it would be stupid not to say anything about keeping in touch now. Sure, it hadn’t been that long since they first met but they’d spent every day together and he was pretty sure that Gavin would agree to at least exchanging email addresses. 

“So I was thinking…”

“Hey, maybe we should…”

They spoke at the same time and had to laugh a bit about it.

“You go ahead,” Ryan said but Gavin shook his head. 

“Nah, you go first.”

“Okay.” Ryan licked his lips nervously but as he looked at Gavin’s expression he only saw gentle curiosity and satisfaction and that made him feel better. “I was wondering if you would like to exchange some kind of contact info, you know to keep in touch after the beta ends.”

Gavin’s face lit up in a smile. “That was what I was going to ask. Yeah, I would really like that. Hey, maybe we could even meet up in real life one day, you never know.”

“Well, that’s kind of far, isn’t it? With you living in England and all.”

“Oh, I never told you, did I? I actually moved to the States like a month ago for work so depending on where you live it might not be too difficult.”

“What, really?” Ryan asked, eyes widening. “And this whole time I was thinking that it might be stupid to make a move when we have an entire ocean between us.”

Gavin grinned sheepishly and patted Ryan’s bare chest. “I guess I should’ve mentioned it sooner. So where do you live?”

“Texas.”

With a flailing of limb that almost sent him off the bed and was close to giving Ryan a black eye, Gavin sat up to stare down at Ryan with a comically shocked expression. “You must be having a laugh!”

“I am not having a laugh,” Ryan said, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I live in Texas now.”

Upon hearing that Ryan had to sit up as well, although in a calmer manner than Gavin had displayed. They looked at each other in silence for a breathless moment as it sank in what this meant for them. Texas was a big state but it was entirely feasible for them to go see each other nonetheless. 

“Where in Texas do you live?” Ryan asked, his heart thumping loudly in his chest.

“Austin,” Gavin replied.

Ryan erupted in almost hysterical giggles and drew Gavin into his arms, flopping them both down into laying positions once more. He kept laughing even as Gavin was looking more and more confused and seemed to be questioning his sanity. 

“Ryan, what’s so funny, Ryan?” Gavin asked in a bit of a whine, poking Ryan’s cheek with his index finger. “Come on, love, tell me.”

It took Ryan a while to calm down enough to take a few deep breaths and finally reply to Gavin’s question. “I live in Austin too.”

“No, you’re joking.” Gavin looked at Ryan incredulously. 

“I’m really not.”

They looked at each other for another silent moment before both of them burst into laughter. In the closed beta of a game, naked in bed next to each other, they laughed for what felt like five minutes at least before finally calming down. They looked at each other again and smiled, Gavin letting out another squeaky little laugh. 

“Hey, Gavin.”

“Yeah, Ryan?”

“Would you like to spend time with me in real life sometime?”

“I would like that very much, love.”

They were silent for another long moment just basking in the afterglow before Ryan added, “Just don’t almost hit me with a car again.”

Gavin gave an offended gasp. “Ryan!”

Ryan started laughing again. Gavin sat up and grabbed a pillow, swatting Ryan with it and demanded for him to apologize but he just kept laughing. Honestly it was too soon and they hadn’t even met in real life yet but Ryan could see himself laughing with and at Gavin for a very long time.


End file.
